Increase your reading comprehension and fluency by expanding your vocabulary. Buy a dictionary and thesaurus and keep them handy when reading. When you encounter an unfamiliar word, write it in a notebook. Look it up and record the definition and synonyms, and use the word in conversation, as appropriate. Have a friend or relative quiz you on word definitions and spellings, or quiz yourself. Crossword puzzles and word games, such as Scrabble, also increase vocabulary and improve spelling.
Read a wide variety of materials, from newsletters, magazines and comic books to technical manuals and cookbooks. Experience with different writing styles will help you recognize organizational patterns, which helps you make inferences as you read. Variety also promotes enjoyment of reading, so read something different now and then.
Set a goal for daily reading time--a half-hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, perhaps--and avoid distractions. Increase reading time by keeping poetry, newspaper articles and short stories handy to read while on your lunch break, waiting for an appointment or at other times when you've got a few minutes.
Practice reading short poems or newspaper articles aloud in a smooth cadence, pausing only in appropriate places, such as at the end of a stanza. Reading at an even rate can aid comprehension. Alter your voice to provide emphasis and distinguish narration from conversations. Listen to audio books when exercising or driving.
Focus on the meaning of what you're reading. Use chapter titles to make predictions about what is going to happen next in the book or other material you're reading. Relate what you're reading to your personal experiences wherever possible and monitor your comprehension frequently. Stop reading periodically to summarize information. If a sentence or paragraph doesn't make sense, look back at the previous paragraph for clarification. Good readers accept comprehension gaps as opportunities to learn, not as failure.